"Australia and the Philippines share common perspectives on many regional, economic and security issues," she told The Huffington Post Australia.

"The two countries share a common interest in cooperating in regional affairs through fora such as the East Asia Summit, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum."

Gorely also noted that Filipinos remain one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in Australia, highlighting that while our formal diplomatic relations may have only started in 1946, the relationship between our nations goes back even further.

"At the 2011 Census, 225,000 Australians identified as having Filipino ancestry, up from 129,000 in 2001," she said.

"There were ties between Australia and the Philippines prior to [1946]. Some, 4,000 Australian servicemen fought alongside their Filipino brothers during WWII and Filipino pearl divers worked in Australia's fledgling pearl industry in the 1800s.